The present invention deals with the problem of conveying articles and has been developed with particular attention to possible use within the context of automatic packaging plants, for example for food products such as confectionery products.
In plants of this kind there is frequently the need to perform, often in a coordinated manner, the following operations:
deviation of the feeding path of the articles being packaged through a considerable angle (for example, an angle of 90xc2x0 so as to cause the articles, after deviation, to be fed along a path perpendicular with respect to the previous feeding path);
modification of the orientation of the articles with respect to their feed path, for example the articles which are fed xe2x80x9ccrosswisexe2x80x9d are subsequently fed xe2x80x9clengthwisexe2x80x9d or vice versa; and
xe2x80x9csynchronizationxe2x80x9d of the articles, this term being understood as meaning the operation which produces a uniform flow of articles which are exactly equidistant with respect to each other and are able to arrive at the stations intended to carry out operations on the said articles (for example wrapping machines, etc.) at exactly predetermined instants.
The object of the present invention is to provide a solution able to perform in an entirely satisfactory manner all the handling operations described above or also only some of them, all of the above being achieved taking into account two basic requirements which are of increasing importance:
being able to handle flows of articles fed at very high speeds (for example in the region of 1000 articles/minute); and
ensuring that the packaging plant operating in accordance with the invention is able to handle equally well or more or less equally well (i.e. with minimum modifications) differently sized articles.
According to the present invention, this object is achieved by means of a method having the characteristic features referred to specifically in the claims which follow. The invention also relates to the associated device.